Pitching in long relief – and in the pressure-cooker environment of a league playoff game – is something Schaaf previously experienced in the course of his baseball career. As such, his timely performance under those circumstances served Pottstown’s American Legion baseball team well Sunday.

Schaaf was called into service in the third inning of the Steelers’ game with Hatfield at Memorial Park. With a berth in the Bux-Mont League playoffs’ championship round riding on a winning outcome, Schaaf did his part to secure an 8-5 victory in the winners’ bracket final.

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“I knew I was going to be in relief,” Schaaf said afterward, “but I didn’t know I’d be coming in that early. In the playoffs last year, I pitched 8-1/3 innings in one game.”

He ended up working just 6-1/3 frames this time around. But in a game where the bulk of the run production came in the first 2½ innings, Schaaf’s mound work in relief of starter Jimmy Mullen was considerably more lights-out than the early going might have indicated.

Schaaf scattered three hits and two walks down the stretch, racking up six strikeouts along the way. Pitching out of bases-loaded jams in the third, fourth and sixth innings – the first one inherited from Mullen – enabled the Steelers to stem Hatfield’s own offensive eruptions.

“Joey struggled early, throwing a lot of pitches,” Pottstown manager Todd Endy recalled. “But in the last innings, he got in a groove, challenging them with his fastball.

As a result, the top-seeded Steelers have their ticket for Tuesday’s championship round punched. They will first play Plumstead 7 p.m. Monday back at Memorial Stadium, preceded by a 4 p.m. contest between Hatfield and Pennridge.

Pottstown jumped on Hatfield starting pitcher Dylan Borawski in its first at-bat, bunching four hits and a sacrifice bunt into a 3-0 lead. Richy Masciarelli (leadoff double) scored off Nick Zipay’s sacrifice bunt, Seth Regensburg – he beat out a perfectly-executed bunt on the third-base side – scored off brother Adam Regensburg’s single to right, and Adam scored in turn off Jimmy Mullen’s single to right-center field.

Hatfield then ended the Steelers’ shutout run in the playoffs at 19 innings with a three-spot in the top of the second. It came with benefit of just one hit (Tyler Smink’s two-run double), the locals committing two errors alongside a wild pitch and passed ball.

The deadlock proved to be short-lived, though. Pottstown answered with four while batting around in its half of the frame, the big hits Seth Regensburg’s two-run double to center and Adam’s RBI double down the right-field line. That outburst ended Borawski’s night on the hill, Dan Carney coming on to get Hatfield out with no further damage.

Then it was Hatfield’s turn to put more numbers up on the board. The seventh seeds made it a 7-5 game in the top of the third, its runs coming off Pat Carney’s sacrifice fly to right and Tyler Phifer getting plunked by a Jimmy Mullen pitch with the bases loaded.

Mullen was pulled from the mound with two outs, switching places with second-baseman Joey Schaaf. Schaaf fanned Tyler Smink on four pitches to close out Hatfield’s at-bat.

The Steelers padded their lead in the fifth, going up 8-5. Dylan Vermeesch drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on Schaaf’s sacrifice bunt and came around when Sage Reinhart singled to the gap in right-center.